Cougar wont start

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Cougar wont start

April 07, 2008, 07:43:53 PM

I have a 91 Cougar with the 5.0 I have charged the battery pleanty of times and whenever i start it, the car wont turn over and kills my battery. so i half to jump it. I'm guessing starter? anyone think different? thanks

Cougar wont start

Reply #1 – April 07, 2008, 09:04:44 PM

It will crank and start if you jump it to another battery.
It won't crank with just the battery in the car.
Is that what you are saying?
Do you have a meter?

Cougar wont start

Reply #2 – April 08, 2008, 12:01:59 AM

--Yes, it will crank and start if i jump it with my truck, but when i shut the car off it wont start back up.
--Yes, it wont crank with just the battery
--Yes, i have a meter in the car and it reads normal when the car is on

Cougar wont start

Reply #3 – April 08, 2008, 01:07:56 AM

I meant a volt meter tool that you can measure the voltage at the battery with.

Do you hook the ground jumper cable from the truck to the engine block? If so the ground cable on your battery may be bad.

Try putting the truck battery in the car.

Cougar wont start

Reply #4 – April 08, 2008, 04:40:50 AM

If it turns over with jumper's hooked up, it's not your starter.

Battery or ground.

Cougar wont start

Reply #5 – April 08, 2008, 07:22:29 AM

Do your lights and radio work at all with your battery?

Cougar wont start

Reply #6 – April 09, 2008, 03:05:50 PM

yep, the lights work and everything but after i try to start the car its very dim

Cougar wont start

Reply #7 – April 10, 2008, 06:15:25 PM

Sounds like you need to replace your battery cables (+ & - ) and terminals. Mine was doing the exact samething, changed those items, no more issues.

Good luck,
Jason

Cougar wont start

Reply #8 – April 10, 2008, 07:25:11 PM

Hello all,

I have had a very similar problem with Cougar X; every couple of months; I'd go out to start her up, and she'd react just like everything you described up to and including:

Quote from: BlkCatXR7;213307

yep, the lights work and everything but after i try to start the car its very dim

Now, I've checked the grounds and connections and everything was fine... the only noteworthy point of mention was the subtle, but unusual corrosion on the battery.

I believe it was jcassity that suggested to me that my alternator was producing an output of Direct Current (12V) and AC....

I don't know if this is relevant to your situation, but my solution was simple, I replaced the battery, alternator, soleniod and ground cables... and the problem was solved. I know from after-fact that it was most likely the unsuspecting alternator... as I said, just an idea....
Have you pulled any codes???

Keep us updated!!

Cougar wont start

Reply #9 – April 10, 2008, 07:42:30 PM

This isn't hard figure out, if lights are dim after trying to start it, ain't likely the cables...

To test with a volt meter, try to start the engine with the meter probes stuck into the center of the battery post(NOT ON THE TERMINALS)... IF voltage falls below 10v, replace the battery...

Cougar wont start

Reply #10 – April 10, 2008, 08:55:56 PM

and to thicken the plot,, i just about pulled my hair out with my bronco doing similar . New napa battery, all was well until it sat and the battery drained.
Sometimes the bronco would not even crank after shutting from a real good road trip.
I installed yet another battery (napa brand again) and things appeard to be fine. Suddenly the same symptoms of no charge in the battery for cranking.

I could see my meter was fairly stable but low voltage was present on the battery (@10vdc).
I started pulling fuses one at at time to see if the battery voltage would start to trickle charge itself thus isolating the load on battery (ie- possible short to ground somewhere).

Solution,,,
took the napa battery back,, they sold me a Deka. trusted name for decades so i went with it.

No more problems.

Napa folks at the shop have turned in a report to the company of muliple napa brand failures so they can isolate a batch number that are out in the field.

Cougar wont start

Reply #11 – April 10, 2008, 08:59:00 PM

if you have had to jump it that many times, im sure there have been sparks happen more than once.

id highly suggest replacing the battery and alternator as a matched set and retry.

Cougar wont start

Reply #12 – April 11, 2008, 05:37:37 AM

Quote from: jcassity;213479

until it sat and the battery drained.

T-Bird's doing the same thing, Thought i had it fixed until i went out opened the door and no lights came on...
Took a few days to drain out.

Trickle charged it back up and it did the same thing.
I've replaced the solonoid, cables, ground, battery~All fuses are fine.
Suspecting the alternator, but now i'm suspecting the Exide battery...

Looks to be a common problem, heh.

*Went out and checked the voltage at the battery alone=9.40, connected to car 9.15'ish (After sitting a few days).
Now charging, and going to unhook it and see if it holds a charge.

Cougar wont start

Reply #13 – April 11, 2008, 07:50:00 AM

I have also had the same problem with my cougar in the past.
the lights worked but it didn't start, then everything dimmed after trying to start it. and it wouldn't charge good.
Found out the pos. cable was corroded inside the casing. replaced it and solenoid to be safe, problem went away.

Cougar wont start

Reply #14 – April 11, 2008, 10:33:25 AM

Charged my battery up for a few hours, steady starting read out of 12.40, 30mins later slowly trickled down to 12.18 and still dropping...

BTW, sorry~Don't mean to hijack your thread.
Just wasn't expecting the battery to be the cause of this since its new, sheds some new light for me :hick:, might want to check yours also.